The Great Fall

Today was church clean-up day. We've been sorta sprucing things up, getting the church looking nice by painting and scrubbing...

Well, in the evening a few other people showed up...and Javier. We continued cleaning for a little bit, but then I noticed that he had brought his bike. So we went outside and I got on the scooter, he got on his bike and we chased the neighbor's chickens up and down the roads. It's hilarious how they zig zag all over the place :))

Javier on his bike

Me on the scooter

Then I got the fabulous idea that him and I should climb the hill behind the church and race down it. So we climb all the way up the hill, it was quite steep. Then we raced down...don't ask who won ;)

I'd never been up the hill before and it was really pretty up. I wanted to show Nicole so I got her to go with me. This time she went on the bike, me on the scooter. 

Nicole

So we huff and puff our way to the top of the hill and the sun was setting...

It was gorgeous! 

Nicole sat down for a minute resting. 

 We took in the view and chatted for a couple minutes then we were ready!

I told Nicole, "Be careful for the rocks, if you run one over you could flip. Also, it's super steep, don't get to going too fast." **THEN we decided that if either of us were to get hurt, the first thing the other person is to do is TAKE A PICTURE. Hahaha! 

Me on the scooter 

This IS my paint outfit ok? Ghetto shoes and all....

This is my last picture. :( On my way down the hill I got to going SO fast, I was standing ON the break, but I couldn't slow down. I tried dragging my foot on the road, but that didn't work either. I got *almost* to the end of the hill and knew I had to slow down because there was a little drop-off step at the end. I couldn't get myself slowed down enough in time though so I jumped off. 

Unfortunately, I was going so fast that my poor little legs couldn't quite keep up. 

You know that stupid run that people do when they are about to fall? The one where they are hunched over with their arms are stuck straight out in front of them? They look sorta like a sped-up zombie...

That was SO me. 

I thought I was going to be able to catch myself...but noooo.

I mean, this was no graceful fall. I was laid flat out on my stomach in the middle of the street...

Kind of upside-down though...it was a steep hill. 

The first thing I did was jump up and look around to see if anyone saw...(2 people did).

Needless to say, I scraped up my knees, my hands, and my tummy......yes my tummy. 

And where was Nicole during all of this?

She was flying down the road, not even looking back at me, sprawled out on the road. 

So I had to get up all alone, dust myself off...and RACE home to BERATE her on WHY did she not fulfill her part of deal of taking pictures??
(Not that I would've posted them here LOL!)

Ooooh...I almost forgot the saddest part of this little tale. 

My camera did not survive the fall. 

It was in my skirt pocket, and I guess I landed on it :(

Now it has a little dent on the front of it and it won't turn on. 

I'm soooooooooo bummed. Also I'm going to be having ugly hands for our conference tomorrow. 

Life is just so tough sometimes. 

But seriously...what am I going to do without my camera??

I feel handicapped. 

I didn't break my phone though...or any bones, come to think of it. 

Well thank goodness, I guess there is a silver lining to all of this after all!! 

Mexican Food Part 1

These are called "Chalupas". 

It is a mini tortilla, soaked it grease and fried. Then you can pick what kind of salsa you want on it, and if you want pork or chicken or cheese on it. 

 These are called "Molotes". Another grease soaked Mexican food.
You can get this one filled with all kinds of stuff...cheese, potato, tinga....whatever you want, really. 

The other thing is a tostada. But this one has cow's hoof in it. :)

The thing Nicole is holding is pickled cow toes. Very gross.
No one liked it. 

And these are chiles rellenos. 

It's a Poblano chile stuffed with cheese. 

I don't like them, but everyone else does.  

Mmmm...Cheesey Cheese. 

The Very Very Little Man

Remember the little guy that I said Nicole almost tripped over the other day?

Well, this is him!! We saw him downtown the other day. He's sooo tiny!

He can't walk. He's not retarded or crazy though. 

He is basically just a chest, although he does have little fins for feet and little arms. 

He's always smiling, he's seems like a happy little guy. 

Downtown With the Kids

On Monday, a few of the kids didn't have school. They wanted to go wander downtown...and just so happen, that's one of my favorite things to do. ;)

The hugest iguana I've ever seen in my life...

Look at those spikes and bumps. It's like a little dinosaur. 

Awww...a toucan!

Us at the cathedral

Nicole and Maribel at Italian Coffee

JC, Javier, and Me...at the coffee place.
No...I don't like coffee ;)

I searched for the perfect pair of shoes all day and the kids so lovingly followed without complaint...

Their only request was that the stores have chairs. :)) 

In front of another cathedral...

Buying junk food...

OH. MY. WORD. 

This week...or should I say this MONTH...is "Day of the Dead" month. 

Basically Halloween, but believe me, the people here REALLY celebrate it...altars, incense, food set out...

It is CREEPY. 

But anyways, when we were downtown on Monday, we saw this little kid laid out on the ground dressed up (I guess) like a dead guy...

And the mouse on his chest is REAL. Hahaha!! How creative! (And sorta creepy too...)

His two buddies had their baskets out asking for money. 

The bus ride home...

And Mari and I...

This weekend is our conference!! It's the same weekend that everyone here celebrates Day of the Dead. 

We have a bunch of people coming for it...from all over everywhere. It's going to be SO good! I absolutely canNOT wait. :))

Awww...

Me and Beau sure do love Bethy <3

She makes a very comfy seat :))

Goodness Gracious, Grandma!

A while back, El Pastor said something about keeping church looking nice in his preaching. 

One of the little old ladies that happened to be at church that night translated this into "Flower Power". 

The arrangements on the left and on the right were the first ones that she brought. She said they were for her Lord and Savior and waved her hands in the air and clutched her fists to her chest. 

What could we say?

But...The other day when she brought the one in the middle...we were like WOAH grandma!! It's taller than the pulpit!

(This is the same lady that once testified that she had a dream she was strangling a child and she said God told her the child represented her illness...strange.)

Now all we need is a casket. 

Love that natural look. ;)

The roses even have glue droplets on them!! 

And to finish the look off with a bit of elegance...Plastic butterflies....

I know we live in Mexico and this is a very colorful and bright country, but does this mean we have to leave good taste behind? 

Seriously though....I do understand that this is a great sacrifice on her part to purchase these and bring them to church. This is very sweet of her. 

We might have to do something though when the person behind the pulpit has to peek through the trees. :))

DISCLAIMER: The views on this post to not necessarily reflect those of Pastor Curtis Wakefield, his family or his church. :))

Good Morning!

As I was titling this post, I read out loud to myself "Good Morning!" And Austin adds, "....Heartache..."

Here he is playing with his Legos :)

Nicole...

"AM I DOING IT? AM I CROSSING EYES?!?!"

And me...Blogging. 

It's EARLY and the sun is coming up and I'm getting a sunburn on the right side of my face haha! (Thus the sunglasses...)

So...the three of us are sitting here right now. 

A minute ago I started howling because...well I just like to howl sometimes. 

Then we heard Beau outside start howling too. LOL!

He goes crazy when anyone howls...and he bites...

He's given all of us bruises before...He doesn't know exactly what he should do or who he should go after. 

And in closing...

The other day I was feeling artistic and my brain juices were flowing. First let me say...my dad really does know how to rhyme. He's written many a poem back in his prime. And he sold them for a dime. Hahahah just kidding (bout the dime part). I thought maybe I'd inherited a little bit of his poetic-ness. 

 So the other day I was sitting on my bed trying to think of a first line...with no luck. Thinking maybe he would give me an idea, I called my dad back to my room. He pulled my curtain aside and I told him, "I want to write a poem. " He said, "Well do it!" 

He then walked out and as he was walking down the hallway I heard him snickering and muttering to himself, 

"Roses are red, violets are blue, 

sugar is sweet and I like oatmeal."

Ok...so the above picture explained:

This is Bro. Curtis Wakefield's version of not wasting. 

The other day we were sitting around the table eating dinner and he says, "Did anyone notice the oatmeal container?" We hadn't. 

He says, "Well this morning I thought my oatmeal was watery so I added more oatmeal. Then I added too much oatmeal so I just scooped out a cup of it and dumped it back in the container."

...WITH the rest of the DRY oatmeal. He said this with a corny smile on his face (he knew he was guilty) so we thought he was joking. Unfortunately he wasn't. There really was a chunk of wet uncooked oatmeal in with all the good oatmeal. And even worse, he ate it the next morning. OMW. Needless to say...him and Austin have been the only ones eating oatmeal lately.

For Mary

This picture is for Mary off of classicmarymoments.blogspot.com :)

Scooooore!

 Saturday we got to see poor little Sis. Hayde :)

She looked so cute in her cast! Hahaha!

The hobbling couple

Then on Sunday, we had a lady from Elder Wakefield's church come and give her testimony to the adult class. Before church started though, Beau was just hanging out upstairs, checking things out. :)

Here is Sis. Natalia's daughter. Ain't she cute?!

She was sitting in Nicole's lap and I was talking to her. She was looking at Beau hanging out of the window and I was talking to her like she didn't know what I was saying...in baby talk, you know. I was all, "You like dogs? You like cats?" And she'd nod. And Nicole and I are both cooing and acting like she's some kind of newborn or something, saying "Aww you're so cute!!" Then I go, "Te gusta los caballos?" (Do you like horses?) And she goes, "Caballos."

AAAH!! She scared me half to death, neither of us knew she could talk...WOW :)

It was a little shocking.

THEN...after church we baptized one of my kids!! YAY!! 

It was so exciting!

 I told him a few Sundays back, "You gotta get baptized, dude!" He said, "Yeah, I know" but seemed nervous or something. I told him that you can't get to heaven without getting baptized...and to think hard about it. So yesterday he finally decided to get baptized! Thank you, Jesus! 

El Pastor and Jorge